Strict licensing laws, self-censorship, and pervasive political influence dominate the press in Malaysia. Under the country’s severe Internal Security Act, journalists are also subject to indefinite detention without charge, as well as harsh libel penalties. The ruling National Front coalition and corporations allied with the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad control all major newspapers…
Shortly after U.S. president George W. Bush arrived in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, in February 2002 for a state visit, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported a miracle: that a cloud in the shape of a Kimjongilia, the flower named after the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, had appeared over North Korea. “Even…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the recent police raid on the offices of the online newspaper Malaysiakini, one of the few independent news outlets in Malaysia. Though police have not yet filed any charges against the publication, authorities said they are investigating the online paper for sedition. Earlier today, January…
Journalists across Asia faced extraordinary pressures in 2001. Risks included reporting on war and insurgency, covering crime and corruption, or simply expressing a dissenting view in an authoritarian state. CPJ’s two most striking indices of press freedom are the annual toll of journalists killed around the world and our list of journalists imprisoned at the…
In 2001, Malaysia’s ruling National Front coalition, led by aging strongman Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, sought to broaden already tight controls on the press through coercion, ownership changes, verbal bullying, and backroom personnel moves. Currently, all publications must obtain an annual press license to operate, and the permit can be withdrawn without judicial review. Radio…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that political pressure may have prompted the recent wave of resignations, suspensions, and lay-offs at The Sun newspaper. Local journalists have told CPJ that the radical retrenchment of the daily’s staff is part of an effort to rein in its political coverage, which had been more independent and aggressive than that of any other mainstream news outlet in Malaysia.
DESPITE PRESS FREEDOM ADVANCES ACROSS ASIA IN RECENT YEARS, totalitarian regimes in Burma, China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos maintained their stranglehold on the media. Even democratic Asian governments sometimes used authoritarian tactics to control the press, particularly when faced with internal conflict. Sri Lanka, for instance, imposed harsh censorship regulations during the year in…
USING INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS AND THE PRINTING PRESSES and Publications Act of 1984, which requires annual relicensing of all publications, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s deeply entrenched ruling party and its allies maintained a stranglehold on the press. Virtually all mainstream newspapers in Malaysia are owned or controlled by parties allied with the ruling Barisan National…